If Anything Should Happen Read online

  ‘His parents sent him away?’ I asked. ‘Or his sister?’

  ‘All I know is she walked in on us. Carla. Two days later, Alex was in some kind of rehab for gay souls trying to find their way back to normal.’

  ‘You’ve got to tell his parents,’ I said. ‘They are convinced Frank Vera murdered him.’

  ‘Maybe they are, and maybe they aren’t.’ He glanced over at me, the hope drained from his expression and from his voice. ‘I thought by calling your show, I might make you curious enough to investigate, but it might be too late for that.’

  ‘Maybe it’s not,’ I said. ‘What really happened?’

  ‘Frank didn’t have a gun. Alex did. When Frank found him, he picked it up, of course. He didn’t know what to do.’ Luis shrugged, as if trying to free himself of the memory. ‘By then, the police officers had arrived.’

  ‘But surely Frank explained.’

  ‘He wasn’t sure,’ he said. ‘He thought an intruder might have come in, and by the time he did figure it out, it was too late. If it’s up to the family, he’ll be convicted for sure.’

  ‘Why would they allow that?’ I asked.

  He gave me that steady gaze. ‘You know why.’

  ‘Not in this world. Do you really think Alex’s family would rather see an innocent man be convicted than just admit their son was gay?’

  ‘They’re doing it.’ He sighed and leaned back in his chair, as if the confession had drained the energy from him.

  ‘I don’t believe it.’ I felt better just saying the words. ‘I’ve met his parents a few times. They’re decent.’

  ‘Until it comes to their son’s orientation.’

  ‘I know you believe that.’

  He stood. ‘And you don’t?’

  ‘I’m not sure,’ I said. ‘I want to help you if I can. All those times you called the station, I wanted to hear more. I wasn’t ever convinced you were a troll. But then Carla kind of let me know my job depended on keeping you off the air.’

  ‘She’s the one trying to cover this up,’ he said.

  ‘Are you sure? She adored Alex.’

  ‘Until he let her know he wasn’t who she thought the brother of a mayor should be.’

  ‘They said Frank knew that he kept cash in the house.’

  ‘In the closet, yes. On the floor.’ He pointed behind him. ‘Alex didn’t have the wall safe installed in there, but he used it. I’m not sure why, but in spite of his parents’ wealth, he always wanted his own money.’

  ‘And Frank knew where it was?’

  ‘He didn’t touch it,’ he said. ‘Every dollar is still right there. I told the police that, but then an officer asked me how I could know the exact amount.’ He tried to grin. ‘That’s when I got the bright idea to start calling you.’

  ‘I’m glad you did,’ I told him. ‘But first, we need to figure out what Frank Vera wanted from Alex if it wasn’t money.’

  He got up and joined me at the window. As he looked out at that peaceful landscape, I couldn’t help wondering how what he saw compared to what I did.

  ‘I already know that,’ he said. ‘They had been lovers, and he wanted to get Alex back.’

  ‘Alex and Frank Vera?’

  ‘He’s an angry bastard,’ Luis said, ‘but I don’t think he’s the one who went to Alex’s family. Someone else told Carla.’

  ‘But Frank Vera was caught holding the gun,’ I said.

  ‘Frank got there after Alex was …’ He turned away from me. ‘That’s all I’m going to say. Frank arrived after the above.’

  ‘Can you prove that?’ I asked.

  He nodded, his eyes dull with what must be pain.

  ‘If you want me to help you, you’ve got to tell me the truth. When did Frank arrive?’

  ‘I pulled in right behind him. We found Alex together. If I’d touched the gun first, I’d be the one going to prison right now.’

  So that explained why he wanted to help Alex’s former lover. Guilt, the great motivator.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ I said.

  ‘So what do we do now?’ he asked.

  ‘Only one thing we can do. You said Alex’s family sent him away. Maybe others were sent away as well. Do you know who his friends are? Can you get into his email account?’

  He paused again, then stared out the windows, as he must have done the many times he had shared this room with Alex. ‘I didn’t think I had a right to.’

  ‘Maybe you’re the only one who can connect us to other men who went through what Alex did,’ I said.

  ‘You really think finding them will help?’ he asked.

  ‘I do. But I can’t do it without you.’

  Although Luis and I had spent more than ten minutes upstairs, Farley hadn’t interrupted us. We found him sitting with his wine as we came down to the kitchen.

  Luis seemed to be holding something back, but I wouldn’t be getting any more information out of him tonight.

  Luis and I hugged at the door. Farley shook Luis’s hand. Then Farley and I drove back to my place together.

  ‘What can you tell me?’ he asked.

  ‘Not much for now.’

  ‘Luis seems like a nice guy,’ he said and braked at a stop sign. ‘But you have your own problems right now, Kit. Maybe he ought to go on the back-burner.’

  ‘He can’t,’ I told him. ‘But you have to promise me that you won’t tell anyone what I’m about to share with you.’

  ‘Of course I won’t.’

  ‘Farley!’ I grabbed his arm. ‘I need to tell you this so that you can help me, but you have to swear to me that you won’t share it with anyone – at least until it is common knowledge, which it probably will be.’

  ‘You can trust me, Kit. You know that.’ He pulled into my driveway, took his phone out of his pocket, placed it on the dashboard, and stopped the car. ‘All right. Tell me whatever you need to. I promise you I won’t repeat it.’

  ‘Luis and Alex,’ I said.

  He nodded, and I could see, even in the dark, that he got it. ‘Of course. I should have known that just being in the house.’

  ‘The family tried to stop it,’ I said.

  ‘I’d believe that of Carla.’

  ‘You’ve heard of gay-conversion camps, right?’

  He winced, as if I had shouted the words. ‘Those camps are illegal.’

  ‘But they exist. Luis told me. The family sent Alex away to a place that was supposed to cure him.’

  He crossed his arms and shook his head. ‘We’ve got to go public with this, even if it means our jobs. Maybe Luis is right, and Frank Vera didn’t kill Alex. Someone knows the truth. We have to put it out there.’

  ‘We can’t,’ I said. ‘Not yet. And you promised me you wouldn’t say anything. Carla could yank that teaching job from Luis as easily as she got me suspended. She could get his parents deported.’

  ‘We have to do something,’ he said. ‘But what? Do you have any idea?’

  ‘Maybe.’ I shrugged. ‘Maybe we need to appeal to the voice of reason in the family.’

  FOURTEEN

  For a moment, lying there, twisted in and around the sheets, Rena feared Dale might still be in bed behind her. Then she heard the rat-a-tat roar outside and knew she was safe. She turned over and squinted at the clock on the nightstand. Almost seven, and the heat had already settled into the air.

  A cool shower revived her. At least she’d get to work with Kendra today. Of course, that would leave Dale and Bryn to their own devices, but she couldn’t dwell on that, and she sure couldn’t dwell on how Dale had tried to turn Daniel against her. No, what she had to do today was what her mama had always said – just keep her side of the street clean.

  After making the bed and rearranging her pillow on the rocker, she smoothed a tank top over her jeans. She had to smile when she remembered the hoots from the boys at the grocery store. Maybe this old body wasn’t as worn out as Dale liked to say.

  ‘You’re getting too skinny.’

  She jerk
ed around, her breath shallow. Dale stood leaning against the door, the nail gun hanging from his right hand.

  ‘I’m no different than usual.’

  ‘Trying to look like that Trafton woman, aren’t you?’

  ‘I’m not trying to look like anyone, Dale. Besides, I’m smaller than Kendra.’

  ‘I’m not talking about her size,’ he said. ‘I’m talking about how tight she wears her clothes.’

  ‘Kendra doesn’t wear her clothes all that tight.’ She had to bite her lip from mentioning the way Bryn wore hers. But Dale still looked angry. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘I’ll fix you some breakfast.’

  As she started into the kitchen, he grabbed her by the arm. ‘If God wanted women to be skinny, don’t you think he would have given skinny women boobs?’

  She couldn’t believe, staring up at him, that he had once made her feel safe. Sometimes, she wondered if she’d married his size as much as anything else. Now, his strength and the possibility of what he could do with it was a quiet threat, as heavy on her as the heat.

  ‘You’ve got to be hungry,’ she said, and looked down at his huge hand.

  He didn’t let go. ‘I’m gonna eat later.’

  ‘Where?’

  He nodded in the direction of the store. ‘Over there.’

  A chill sprang from the back of her neck and spread. With Bryn. He didn’t have to say it. ‘Nothing over there could be that good for you.’

  ‘What’s that supposed to mean?’ His fingers tightened. Her nerves felt ready to snap, like the brittle bundle of secrets she’d burned in here last week. Little good that had brought about.

  ‘Nothing in the store but stale doughnuts,’ she said. ‘You need eggs and bacon, some real food. Come on.’

  Slowly, he released her. She wanted to bolt for the door, but she made herself stay calm.

  ‘Guess I could use something now, considering everything I have to do today.’

  ‘Sure, Dale.’ She wiped her sweating hands on her jeans, but the perspiration seemed to pour from her. Did he notice? Had he realized how frightened she was? She used to be able to tell everything from his eyes, but they didn’t change much any more. They just stayed that same shade, like a watercolor of the sky with not enough blue in it. ‘I still have some of the ham left. I could fry it up,’ she said, trying to get his mind off of whatever was making him smirk the way he was.

  ‘Why don’t you just do that?’ He started out the door and then stopped.

  Rena looked up, wondering what she’d done now. There, propped against the back of her grandma’s rocking chair, was her pillow. The tiny tip of an envelope poked from the seam in its middle.

  ‘What’s that?’ Dale’s voice eased out soft, more frightening than when he shouted at her.

  Rena moved between him and the chair. ‘What’s what?’

  ‘You know what.’ He cocked his head. ‘Are you hiding something? You wouldn’t be crazy enough to hide anything from me, would you?’

  He was going to hit her, plow through her like a dirt clod in a field. Sweat ran down her face. She couldn’t let this happen. ‘It’s nothing. Just leave me alone. Quit picking on me.’

  ‘Get out of the way.’ He was shouting now. He grabbed her again, the heat of his fingers stabbing pain through her.

  ‘Dale,’ a voice shouted. ‘Dale?’

  Bryn. Why was she here? What did she want?

  He stopped, let go. Rena gasped and slammed her hand over her mouth to keep from screaming.

  Bryn stood just outside the bedroom. ‘What is going on in there?’ she asked.

  Dale looked sheepish, but even Bryn should have seen past his rotten excuse for a smile. ‘Nothing but a little marital disagreement, that’s all.’

  She looked back at Rena, but Rena couldn’t find her voice. She could only ask herself what the girl in the lace top so skimpy that you could see her nipples through it was doing coming into her bedroom.

  ‘My dad just phoned.’ Although she said it to Rena, she was looking at Dale, as if still trying to figure out what she’d interrupted.

  Rena’s heart skipped, and she felt as if she were strangling. Leighton had called.

  ‘What’s he doing sniffing around here?’ Dale said. ‘You know you’re not supposed to take personal calls at work.’

  ‘Personal calls are guys,’ Bryn said. ‘This is just my dad, all right? He’s driving out here right now and wanted me to let you know. There’s something going on with Kendra Trafton, that woman over in Tucson. He’s been trying to reach her on the phone, and when he couldn’t, he called here.’

  To hear Bryn speak Kendra’s name sent a rush of panic through Rena. Lord, let Kendra be all right. ‘What’s happened to her?’ Rena asked, fearing the answer.

  ‘Nothing’s happened to her exactly,’ Bryn said. ‘My dad just heard from some detective firm out in California. There’s a woman looking for Kendra.’

  ‘Why would anyone be looking for the Trafton woman?’ Dale glared at Rena, as if demanding that she answer the question for him.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she whispered.

  ‘Well, I do.’ Bryn angled her hands on the low rise of her jeans, smug-faced as always, recovered from whatever had ori-ginally bothered her. ‘This woman. She’s claiming Kendra is her mother.’

  ‘Her mother?’ Rena asked.

  Bryn ran back outside, and Rena stood alone with Dale.

  ‘Son of a bitch,’ he said. ‘Leighton has no right coming here.’

  ‘He’s her father.’

  ‘I said he has no right.’ He ran his finger along her arm. ‘You of all people ought to know that.’ He headed for the door. ‘I’ll be right back.’

  Running after Bryn like a fool, she thought. Good. She could whipstitch the pillow, and it wouldn’t take her more than a couple of minutes.

  She touched her arm where Dale had grabbed her and brushed away the bruise. No, not a bruise. He hadn’t grabbed her that hard. The way the light fell just cast a shadow for a moment. Her arm was fine. She was fine. She just had to hurry and stitch up the pillow, so she could get ready to see Leighton. Yes, she’d see Leighton again, even though Dale would be watching them.

  In about fifteen minutes, Dale came back, sulking. He kept quiet as she cooked his breakfast, not even watching to see if she got the bacon crisp enough and that she remembered to baste his fried eggs with the drippings.

  He ate in silence, too.

  She’d like to think that, after all these years, he had finally figured out she knew her way around the kitchen. But no. He was chewing on more than breakfast. She remembered what her mama had said when she worried like this. Stinkin’ thinkin’, she called it. Better to just turn off her thoughts and ease their day into something better than the way it started.

  ‘Eggs taste all right?’ she asked.

  He glanced up from his plate, as if surprised she was in the room. ‘They’ll do.’

  Standing beside the stove, she wasn’t sure if she should say more to him or just head down the hall. Fluff her hair up, maybe put on that green T-shirt Kendra said brought out her eyes.

  ‘Ham cooked the way you like it?’

  ‘I said they’ll do.’ He shoved a piece of bacon into his mouth.

  ‘So, what do you think about all that?’ she said.

  He finished chewing, swallowed some coffee, and asked, ‘What do I think about all what?’

  ‘About this woman claiming Kendra’s her mother, of course. About her coming back and trying to find Kendra after all this time.’

  ‘You know what I think?’ Dale’s eyes went watery again. His lips trembled.

  She backed into the stove and wondered what button she’d pushed this time. ‘What do you think?’

  ‘I think it’s a goddamned lie.’ He pushed himself away from the table, stood up, then picked up his plate, bacon and eggs still on it, and threw the whole mess across the room in her direction.

  She slid to the side, just as what was left of his meal hit the s
tove. ‘Dale,’ she begged. ‘What’s wrong?’

  ‘It’s a lie about Kendra’s girl,’ he said. ‘That bastard Leighton made it up, I’ll bet you anything.’

  ‘But why would he lie?’ Leighton wouldn’t make up anything. She knew that. ‘He’s an attorney. He can’t just go around lying about a woman trying to find her mother.’

  ‘He’ll say anything to get back in this house again.’ Dale sat back down and picked up the one thing he hadn’t thrown at her, his coffee cup.

  She ducked, and then realized he was only taking a sip. Slowly, she leaned down and began picking up the broken plate. Leighton wouldn’t lie. She knew that. And if he could find Kendra’s daughter, it would be worth every strand of fried yellow yolk stuck to the front of her white stove.

  ‘Don’t cut yourself,’ he said. She could hear his chair drag across the floor. Dear Lord, don’t let him kick her. His boots came closer, until he was standing beside her. She concentrated on the task, on placing the small, white pieces of stoneware on to the larger, jagged piece. Burn away. Burn away.

  ‘I said don’t cut yourself.’

  ‘I’m being careful,’ she told him. ‘I just wish you wouldn’t get so mad all the time.’

  ‘I’m not the one who’s mad,’ he said in that insincere voice he used when he was trying to be sweet. A thin voice; it was as watery, in its own way, as his eyes.

  Still crouched on the floor, she looked up at him. Kendra was right again. He wasn’t getting better, and he wasn’t the big, safe guy from high school who got mad sometimes. No, he was getting worse. ‘You threw your breakfast at me, Dale,’ she said. ‘I’d call that mad.’

  ‘I didn’t throw it at you. I threw it at the wall.’ His voice was still low, but his eyes bulged like a bull’s, and she feared that a good kick in the side was just a boot tip away.

  ‘I can see that.’ She felt herself cringe. ‘I’m sorry. Why’d you have to go and do that, though?’

  ‘’Cause of you,’ he shouted. Rena flinched and closed her eyes. ‘You know I’ve got to go check on that job in Phoenix again today. And you know if I get it, I’ll be there a week, at least. And Leighton Coulter just happens to decide he has to drive out here while I’m away.’